Appeal No. 2000-1356
Application 07/979,772
We affirm-in-part.
In rejecting a claim under 35 U.S.C. § 103, an examiner
is under a burden to make out a prima facie case of
obviousness. If that burden is met, the burden of going
forward then shifts to
the applicant to overcome the prima facie case with argument
and/or evidence. Obviousness is then determined on the basis
of the evidence as a whole and the relative persuasiveness of
the arguments. See In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445, 24
USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir. 1992); In re Hedges, 783 F.2d
1038, 1039, 228 USPQ 685, 686 (Fed. Cir. 1986); In re
Piasecki, 745 F.2d 1468, 1472, 223 USPQ 785, 788 (Fed. Cir.
1984); and In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1052, 189 USPQ 143,
147 (CCPA 1976).
We are further guided by the precedence of our reviewing
court that the limitations from the disclosure are not to be
imported into the claims. In re Lundberg, 244 F.2d 543, 113
USPQ 530 (CCPA 1957); In re Queener, 796 F.2d 461, 230 USPQ
438 (Fed. Cir. 1986). We also note that the arguments not
made separately for any individual claim or claims are
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